- Allowed for establishing a campaign office, wearing sashes and markers, distributing election campaign cards, and soliciting support

- Required to resign by December 9 for a person in a position who is banned from running for an office including heads of the local governments who wish to register as a candidate

- Operating ‘a special task force’ to counteract promptly against the spread of slander, black propaganda, and false information

The National Election Commission (NEC) of the Republic of Korea announced that the preliminary candidate registration for the 20th Presidential election that will be held on March 9, 2022 begins from July 12.

Those who wish to become preliminary candidates should submit documents to prove their eligibility to run for the office including the copy of their resident identification certificate, criminal records and certificates of formal education and pay the deposit of 60 million Korean won ($52,294 USD) which is 20% of the final candidate deposit of 300 million won ($261,000 USD).

* The criminal records and academic background of a candidate can be found on the NEC homepage (http://info.nec.go.kr).

If the incumbent heads of the local governments or the public officials with the posts that are not allowed for candidacy wish to register as a candidate they should resign by December 9, 90 days before the election; If a person plans to register as a preliminary candidate prior to December 9, he/she must resign before registering as a preliminary candidate. As for a national assembly member, he/she may hold his/her parliamentary seat and enter for a candidacy.

When registered as a preliminary candidate, the candidate may:

• Establish a campaign office (putting up signboards and banners)

• Distribute election campaign cards including a candidate’s spouse and a lineal ascendant and descendant, etc

• Wear campaign sashes or markers

• Send out election campaigning text messages through automatic broadcast communications

• Send out election campaigning e-mails by entrusting the dispatch of e-mails to an agency

• Develop and send campaign materials to a maximum of 10% of households nationwide

• Publish and sell in the normal manner one preliminary candidate pledge book (except door-to-door sales method)

Any person who is allowed for an election campaigning under the Public Official Election Act (hereinafter ‘the Act’) revised last December can engage in a campaigning except on the election day through spoken words and direct phone calls individually (a method of a direct communication between a caller and a receiver).

Preliminary presidential candidates and primary election candidates are allowed to establish a Political Fundraising Association (PFA), and each PFA may receive donations of up to 2,565.45 million Korean won ($2,238,974 USD), which is 5% of the election expense limit of 51.309 billion Korean won ($44,779,480 USD).

As the NEC goes into a full scale election schedule, it said that it will engage in giving guidelines of the Act and taking preventive measures against the acts of violations; also it will enforce the regulations more strongly including the operation of ‘a special task force to counteract publicizing of slander or false information’ promptly that occur online or offline.